Samsung Galaxy S III shows up for pre-order on Amazon

We are always cautious when talking about product leaks from pre-order pages, but since the retailer in question is Amazon, this one is as serious as it gets. Amazon Germany has listed the Samsung Galaxy S III for pre-order, thus possibly revealing some of the upcoming flagship's specs, to go with its 599 price tag.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is listed as sporting a 4.7" Super AMOLED screen and a 12MP camera. The phone's memory is listed as 16GB, which is further expandable up to 32GB, while the OS is, of course Android 4.0 ICS.

In case you can't wait to get your hands on the Samsung Galaxy S III, hit the source link to pre-order it. Its price by the way, does include VAT.

Source (in German) | Via

WiMAX sporting HTC J gets announced in Japan

The WiMAX equipped HTC J has become official for the Japanese carrier KDDI. Carrying the rather dramatic ISW13HT model number, the Android smartphone shares quite a few specs with the globally available, HTC One S, which we came to like a lot.

The HTC J features a Snapdragon S4 chipset with two 1.5GHz CPU cores. The screen is a 4.3" AMOLED unit with qHD resolution. There is 16GB of built-in memory and a microSD card slot for further expansion. There is an 8MP camera on the back, and a 1.3MP front-facing unit. Along with the typical for a high-end Android device connectivity suite, the HTC J packs an infrared port too. The OS on tap is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Quite naturally, the HTC J has grown considerably in measures, compared to its One S relative. They are 132 x 66 x 11.2mm, while the weight of the Japan only device has grown to 142 grams. The HTC J is powered by a 1810mAh battery.

The smartphone will be available for KDDI at some point in the summer. Its retail package will include a pair of UrBeats headphones.

Source 1 (in Japanese) | Source 2 (in Japanese) | Via

AT&T HTC One X RadioShack preorders priced at $149

Eager to grab a dual-core Krait-touting HTC One X for use on the AT&T network, are you? Then you'll be glad to find out that you'll be able to book your unit tomorrow at a discounted price, thanks to RadioShack.

The latest and greatest LTE HTC smartphone will set you back just $149 on a two-year contract, which is $50 less than what you'd normally pay for it. RadioShack is also ready to throw in free downloads of seven Coldplay songs, including an exclusive live recording of "Charlie Brown" to sweeten up the deal.

Shipments are scheduled to arrive on May 6, but if you want to be among the first to enjoy the LTE-loving HTC flagship, you might as well book your place in line.

Via

Samsung Galaxy S III test unit shown on video, specs and all

Yet another alleged live photo of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III flagship leaked yesterday, but the guys from Tinhte.vn got their hands on just that device and shot an informative video that reveals a lot about the phone.

It's important to note that the device shown isn't the final design - it's just a sort of test mule, with all the hardware packed in a box to let the carriers test it. This was done to prevent any leaks of what the final device will look like.

Here's the video in question (it's in Vietnamese, but there are English subtitles):

The hardware should be identical though and the video shows Android System Info running on the phone, so it reveals several key specs. The first is a Samsung-made quad-core processor running at 1.4GHz, a Mali-400MP GPU (same as on the current Galaxy S II) and a screen with 320ppi pixel density.

The screen has 720p resolution, which works out to a 4.6" diagonal with the quoted density (seems about right judging by the part of the video where the Galaxy S III is put next to a Galaxy Nexus). Part of the screen is reserved for ICS-style on-screen controls. The screen should be a Super AMOLED unit, though we don't know if it's a Plus or not (if it uses PenTile matrix or a conventional RGB one).

A look at the back of the device reveals a microSD card slot to expand the 16GB of built-in memory. Next to it is a SIM slot of about the same size, so the Galaxy S III should be using the microSIM standard. The battery has an ample 2050mAh capacity and the phone will support NFC connectivity.

Photos of a Samsung Galaxy S III test unit

The camera interface on the Samsung Galaxy S III (if that's even its final name) reports a maximum resolution of 8MP and not 12MP as earlier rumors suggested. This could be just a software limitation, but there's no way to know for sure, at least until the official announcement comes.

That is expected to happen on May 3, when we should see the final design, name and specs of the Galaxy S II successor.

Source

HTC is done with the hardware QWERTY phones

The HTC design team shed some light on the companys future plans during an event in Seattle. Unfortunately the news is not happy for the texting addicts HTC is done with the hardware QWERTYs for good.

Even though HTC created some of the best QWERTY smartphones through the years, nowadays those gadgets are almost extinct. It seems HTC isnt happy with their market performance, so it has decided to drop them from its plans.

Surely, there will be many disappointed with this decision, but hey, if it ain't bringing in enough cash then the niche has little reason to exist, right?

So comes the end of the QWERTY era for HTC. A sad day or good riddance?

Source

Samsung Galaxy S III sample camera photos arrive

The Tinhte post that revealed the Galaxy S III test unit may have been pulled down, but it contained more than just a hands-on video - it also had a few 8MP camera samples. Now, the phone is not a production unit and the lighting conditions are far from perfect, but the EXIF data of the samples is still able to reveal a few interesting bits about the smartphone.

That info reveals that the Samsung Galaxy S III has an F/2.6 aperture (the aperture on the S II is F/2.65) and the focal length has gone from 3.97mm to 3.7mm. That means that either the viewing angle of the new Samsung flagship is wider than that of its predecessor (going from 28mm to 26mm in 35mm equivalent) or that the image sensor in the new Galaxy is slightly bigger - about 7%.

Here are the two camera samples:

Sample photos from Samsung Galaxy S III test unit

Update: It turns out there are several more camera samples from the Galaxy S III that were uploaded to Picasa.

Samsung Galaxy S III sample photos

Note that the EXIF lists the camera software as M0_TEST, so there's more work to be done on it before it's finalized.

Via

BlackBerry Curve 9220 first live pictures surface

RIM officially announced the BlackBerry Curve 9220 yesterday. It is an entry-level (by RIM standards) smartphone based on the companys latest OS 7.1 version.

Unboxing the Curve 9220

The Curve 9220 is now available in India for INR11000 while other markets should get it soon. Check these live pictures to see whats in the retail package and how the Curve 9220 looks in real life.

BlackBerry Curve 9220

In case youve missed the yesterdays news, you should know RIM is offering a collection of premium apps for free with every Curve 9220 purchased until June 30.

Source

Nokia Lumia 610 hits Asia in late April, the Philippines get it first

Nokia just announced the Lumia 610 roll out schedule for Asia. The first country to get the company's most affordable WP smartphone will be the Philippines - sales there start during the last week of April.

After that, in May, the Lumia 610 is heading to China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. The rest of the markets will get the Lumia 610 by the end of this quarter (June 30).

Nokias suggested retail price for the Lumia 610 before taxes and subsidies is 189, which seems quite attractive all well suited to the targeted young users.

Are you interested in getting one?

Source

Nokia Q1 results show big drop in smartphone sales

Nokia just announced their financial results for Q1 of 2012 and things aren't looking that good, but CEO Stephen Elop is keeping his chin up. Nokia's smartphone division was hit the hardest, but the good news for them is that this is due to the decline in sales of Symbian phones, with the Lumia range starting to make up for it.

Nokia's combined net sales were down 29% year-over-year (YoY) to 7.354 billion and the company posted an operating loss of 1.34 billion.

The Devices & Services division saw a steeper drop in net sales - 40% YoY - mostly due to lower sales of smartphones. Net sales are less than half of what they were in Q1 of 2011 - a 51% drop in the number of units shipped. Feature phones saw a 32% decline in net sales and a 16% drop in the number of units shipped. Overall, Devices & Services posted an operating loss of 219 million, making for a negative profit margin of 5.2%.

Regionally, Europe and China (traditionally strong markets for Nokia) saw big declines in popularity for the Finnish phone maker - Nokia sold 15.8 million units in Europe (down from 23.4 million in Q1 2011) and 9.2 million units in China (a steep 62% drop from 23.9 million units from last year's Q1). The Middle East and Africa along with the Asia Pacific region remain strong markets for Nokia.

Nokia's North American market shrunk from 1.2 million units in Q1 2011 to 0.6 million for Q1 of this year. North and Latin America however saw some gains in sales of smartphones and the Average Selling Price for smartphones went up slightly thanks to the Lumia smartphones.

CEO Stephen Elop remains confident in Nokia's strategy, saying that they covered the top and bottom range of the Windows Phone market with the launches of the Lumia 900 and Lumia 610 (which just started rolling out in Asia) and that they'll strengthen their S40 portfolio in the next quarter. Nokia is also working on cost-cutting measures.

In another bit of Nokia news, Colin Giles, executive vice president of sales and a member of the Nokia Leadership Team, will step down from both positions at the end of June for personal reasons.

You can hit the source link for a detailed summary and a link to a PDF with the full report, if you want more details on Nokia's performance in Q1 of 2012.

Source

Huawei Ascend P1 global availability announced

Huawei announced their slender droid - the Huawei Ascend P1 in early January with a vague Q2 release date. They've finally committed to slightly more concrete launch time frame.

The Ascend P1 (in case you dont remember our CES coverage) is an Ice Cream Sandwich droid with a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 4.3" qHD AMOLED screen and an 8MP camera. The key selling point of the smartphone is the 7.7mm slim profile.

Anyway, the P1 will first launch in May through carriers and retailers in Australia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. It will hit the shelves in Latin America in June followed by European availability in the summer. The Ascend P1 will launch in more markets later on.

So far, so good, but we still don't have pricing info on the Ascend P1 and there isn't a drop of info on the press release about the Ascend P1 S, which is a full millimeter thinner than the regular P1.

By the way, the Ascend P1 launched in its home market - China - today and has already sold out after receiving over 100,000 preorders according to Huawei's chairman

Source (in Chinese)

RIM launches cheap BlackBerry Curve 9220 in India

Good news for the RIM users in India. RIM announced the BlackBerry Curve 9220 a cheap smartphone running on the latest 7.1 OS version.

It has a four-row QWERTY keyboard and a 2.44-inch QVGA display. Other notable features are the 2MP camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth, FM radio, the microSD card slot and 512MB of RAM. The headset does not support 3G networks, just GSM/EDGE ones.

BlackBerry Curve 9220

The users who purchase the BlackBerry Curve 9220 will be able to download a selection of apps worth INR2500 (37) for free until June 30.

The Curve 9220 will become available on April 19 in India, while the global release should follow a few weeks later. The retail price should be around INR11000 ('160).

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Source

Samsung Galaxy Beam is now available for pre-order in Europe

One of the most interesting smartphones to come in recent times is now available for pre-order in Europe.

The Samsung Galaxy Beam units can be booked for 430 (525) a piece without a contract. Currently, there's no details on when the device is going to be available, but if you want to secure your Beam, hit the source link for the pre-order page.

Using the Galaxy R as a base, the Beam is built around a 4.0-inch WVGA LCD screen and rocks a 1GHz Cortex-A9 dual-core processor and 768MB of RAM. The party piece, however, is the built-in projector which can display images as big as a 50" TV at a 2-meter distance.

Feel free to check out our preview for more information about the projector smartphone.

Source | Via

Lumias aren't competitive enough, say European carriers

The Lumia 900 might be selling like hot cakes at AT&T's camp across the ocean, but things don't look so bright for Nokia in Europe.

Reuters has talked to several European carriers and they are unanimous - Nokia Lumia phones aren't good enough to be any sort of threat for the iPhone and Android smartphones. And there are several reasons why this is so.

Operators claim Lumia phones are too pricey and bring little innovation to justify that. The lack of proper marketing strategy and the various software bugs have also put some users off.

No one comes into the store and asks for a Windows phone, said an executive in charge of mobile devices at a European operator, where the Lumia 800 and 710 have been available since December last year. The executive also added that If the Lumia with the same hardware came with Android in it and not Windows, it would be much easier to sell.

Source | Via

Nokia 808 PureView surfaces on pre-order in the UK

We've already seen Nokia 808 PureView pre-orders pop up elsewhere but now we're talking the UK.

Clove.co.uk now offers the ultra-high-megapixel cameraphone but the pricetag is a bit harder to swallow than the one we saw from Nokia Italy. With the VAT included, the UK price amounts to 538.80, which is roughly 655, while Nokia Italy's asking price is 599.

We hope other UK retailers chime in on that one and make a more palatable offer for the Nokia 808. A Dutch retailer, for instance, has a pre-order listed at 565.

Clove doesn't mention a release date but the Nokia Italy pre-order had May as a projected time frame for the launch of the highly anticipated cameraphone.

Source

Samsung Galaxy S III may not be a major update over the S II

The successor of the Samsung Galaxy S II - let's call it the Galaxy S III though that might not be its final name - has been a hot topic of conversation for months now. Now a new rumor suggests that all the imaginative rumors are wrong and the S III will be a relatively minor update.

An anonymous source talking to CNET claims that the S III will be to the S II what the iPhone 4S was to the iPhone 4 - a boost in processing power and a cool-sounding (though not necessarily useful) interaction feature.

The source pointed towards the HTC One X as what to expect from the Galaxy S III's specs - so a quad-core CPU (likely an Exynos rather than Tegra), 1GB of RAM and a 4.7" screen.

The bigger screen is supported by the leaked images of the S III that show a five column UI, rather than four columns on the S II and its 4.3" screen.

The new interaction feature is reportedly dubbed Human Interaction by Samsung and will use the front-facing camera to keep track of where your eyes are pointed - and it will lock the screen when you look away.

Samsung has an event scheduled for May 3 and the most likely phone to be announced at it is the Galaxy S III, so that's when we'll see if the source is right or not.

Source

Meizu MX quad-core is now official

Meizu just announced a quad-core version of its MX smartphone, running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The handset will carry the name Meizu MX quad-core, and will bring several improvements to go with the new silicon.

The CPU of in the updated device will be a 32nm High-K Metal Gate, quad-core Samsung Exynos chip, featuring four Cortex-A9-based cores. Curiously enough, there is no info on the clock speed of the aforementioned.

The battery of the newcomer has been beefed up as well. It is now a 1700mAh unit. Also, to make the quad-core version stand out from its predecessor, there is a range of new colors for its back cover. This means that you can have your quad-core beast in five colors of your choice.

The OS on tap will be Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, customized by Meizu, and carrying the name Flyme OS. The rest of the specs in of the new device are unchanged from its predecessor. You can see them right here.

The Meizu MX quad-core will come in a 32 and 64GB versions. They will be priced in China at the highly attractive 2,999 (US$480) and 3,999 (US$635) respectively.

Source (in Chinese) | Via

DROID RAZR HD name leaks through EXIF data

An image belonging to a certain Motorola DROID RAZR HD has been found floating around Picasa. It belongs to Vic Yu, who is an engineer and program manager at Motorola Mobility.

The name was found within the EXIF data for this picture, along with other information, such as the f/2.4 aperture. The image from which this EXIF data comes from was shot at 6 megapixels, but it's in 16:9 aspect ratio, which means at 4:3 the image resolution would be 8 megapixels.

The HD moniker suggests that the phone has a 720p display. This is not unheard of as we have seen a variant of the Motorola RAZR being sold in China with a 4.5-inch, 720p HD display and a 13 megapixel camera (the US version might have just an 8 megapixel camera from the current DROID RAZR, though). This phone has been sold exclusively in China till now, along with another variant without the Kevlar back, but it seems now that Motorola might be bringing it to other markets, starting with the US on Verizon.

Source

Samsung holding an event for the next Galaxy phone on May 3

Samsung has finally started sending out the official invites for the event in London on May 3 for the next Galaxy handset.

The invite doesn't say much but it's highly likely that it will be about the Galaxy S III (or whatever Samsung decides to call it). It's clear from the invite that Samsung is talking about only one device here, which makes us all the more certain that it is just the Galaxy S III that Samsung will announce. As far as the puddles of liquid seen in the invite, it could be nothing more than something used to fill up the invite image or something as exciting as an indicator for the device having a Liquidmetal body.

Samsung has taken its own sweet time with this device, even choosing to play it low at the popular Mobile World Congress this year, which is when companies make major announcements. Hopefully, this phone will live up to everyone's expectations.

Source

Panasonic Eluga on sale in Germany, coming to the UK soon

The Panasonic Eluga - a tough, IP57-certified droid with a slender waistline - has landed in Europe. The Eluga packs a 4.3" qHD AMOLED screen with very little bezel around it - the front of the phone measures 123 x 62 mm, 68% of which is covered in screen. The phone is just 7.8mm thick and weighs only 103g, but is dust proof and can sit under 1.5m of water for 30 minutes.

The Eluga is NFC-enabled and is launching with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but Panasonic plans to upgrade it to Ice Cream Sandwich in the summer. The phone is powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of built-in storage. The battery is rather small - 1150mAh - but Panasonic says it's good for up to 12 days of standby and up to 4 hours of talk time.

In Germany, the Panasonic Eluga can be had for 400 from either Amazon.de or GetGoods.de, while Guenstiger.de has it slightly cheaper at 370.

The Eluga will take a few days to cross the English channel - it should arrive on April 24 with Expansys charging 365 (440) for it. There don't seem to be other UK retailers that carry it at the moment, though Clove UK have its bigger brother, the Krait-packing, ICS-running Eluga Power, on pre-order and expect it to arrive in "late April".

Drop a line in the comments if you find the Panasonic Eluga from other retailers, other readers might find it helpful.

Via

Sony LT29i Hayabusa camera shots leaked

We're already aware that Sony aren't holding back in the wake of their rebirth as Sony Mobile Communications and with four devices already toting either an 'available' or 'coming soon' status, we know that they're keeping themselves busy.

Based on some leaked camera samples and a few other clues, we're already starting to build up a picture of their next device, currently known as the LT29i Hayabusa. The camera samples which just surfaced aren't showing off anything in particular but the information which lies within their EXIF data tells part of the story.

The shots, which appeared on Picasa just days ago show a drab looking plant pot and part of a computer keyboard, but within the aforementioned data, the device taking these inane images is operating under build number 7.0.A.0.599_53_b100. When you place this alongside Sony's current flagship, the Xperia S (ion permitting), which runs build number 6.0.A.3.37, the former appears to be using the next iteration of Sony's mobile UI (known as eDream 7).

The spec sheet rumored to accompany the LT29i Hayabusa is said to include a 4"+ display with a 720 x 1196 resolution suggesting a lack of any hardware or capacitive buttons as we've seen from the latest Sony devices (with the extra 84 pixels reserved for onscreen buttons much like the Galaxy Nexus), as well as a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 chipset to put in the leg work.

This reinforces Sony's intentions to stick to releasing dual-core devices, at least throughout the remainder of 2012 and with the S4, bringing a device to the table comparable to the freshest competition, namely the HTC One S (the review of which you can check out here).

The Hayabusa is expected to launch in July and there's even talk of LTE connectivity when it does, but we'll keep our eyes out for any more solid information before we jump to any conclusions.

Source 1 | Source 2

HTC announces three new Desire phones for the Chinese market

HTC has announced a trifecta of Android phones for the Chinese market - the VT T328t, VC T328d, and V T328w. Each of these phones will be sold under the Desire brand name and will be on different carriers. All these phones phones have similar hardware and will also come with Android 4.0 and Beats Audio.

HTC VT T328t

The list of specifications include 4-inch, 800 x 480 S-LCD, 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal memory and microSD card slot.

HTC VC T328d

The VT T328t will be available on China Mobile, the VC T328d on China Telecom and the V T328w on China Unicom. The last two phones will also include support for dual SIM cards.

HTC V T328w

All three phones are said to be out by the end of this month and are likely to remain exclusive to the Chinese market. The V T328w will be priced at 1999 yuan ($317) but the prices for the other two are unknown as of now.

Source